The Forge WC2

Fickle beasts restaurants. Well, that's what many people think. But actually, if you ask thousands of people what they think of the establishments they visit - which we do at this time of year - you find that views on restaurants are not, for the most part, random. Most places generate pretty consistent feedback. In fact, that's usually the case even across different establishments under common ownership.

Take Covent Garden's Café du Jardin, for example, long known - to those in the know - as a handy stand-by lunch or pre- (or post-) theatre, but no real destination in its own right. When the same team launched a nearby place, wittily called Le Deuxieme, the package was updated a bit stylistically, but the views it inspired were pretty much the same: useful, but a bit anonymous.

The team's recently launched third venture is named in honour of its intriguing premises' origins as a forge for stained glass windows. Despite the great potential character of the site, though, it looks unlikely to generate consumer feedback very different from its siblings.

It should really have been called 'Le Troisième'. The interior, while pleasant, is conventional and not especially atmospheric. The staff are nice too, but never quite engage. And the menu is too long and too miscellaneous to give you the feeling that there's any real passion in the kitchen. Even if the food is perfectly competent - which it is - it's difficult to shake off the feeling that this is an all-things-to-all-men sort of place.

Handy enough for a business lunch then, and really useful if you're going to the opera. But for that special date? Well, you could always hope for that random spark of brilliance.